Arch Linux Performance Tuning Guide

Complete beginner-friendly guide to performance tuning on Arch Linux, including CPU optimization, memory management, I/O optimization, and system tweaks.

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Table of Contents

1. CPU Optimization
2. Memory Management
3. I/O Optimization
4. Kernel Parameters
5. System Tweaks

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CPU Optimization

CPU Governor

Set governor:

# Install cpupower
sudo pacman -S cpupower

# Set performance
sudo cpupower frequency-set -g performance

# Set ondemand
sudo cpupower frequency-set -g ondemand

CPU Affinity

Set affinity:

# Set CPU affinity
taskset -c 0,1 command

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Memory Management

Swappiness

Configure swappiness:

# Check current
cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness

# Set swappiness
echo 10 | sudo tee /proc/sys/vm/swappiness

# Make permanent
echo "vm.swappiness=10" | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf

Transparent Huge Pages

Configure THP:

# Disable THP
echo never | sudo tee /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled

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I/O Optimization

I/O Scheduler

Set scheduler:

# Check scheduler
cat /sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler

# Set scheduler
echo bfq | sudo tee /sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler

SSD Optimization

Optimize SSD:

# Enable TRIM
sudo systemctl enable fstrim.timer
sudo systemctl start fstrim.timer

# Mount with noatime
# Edit fstab
sudo vim /etc/fstab
# Add: noatime

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Kernel Parameters

Edit GRUB

Add parameters:

# Edit GRUB
sudo vim /etc/default/grub

Add:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="... mitigations=off"

Regenerate:

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

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System Tweaks

Disable Services

Disable unnecessary:

# List services
systemctl list-unit-files --type=service

# Disable service
sudo systemctl disable service-name

Optimize Boot

Analyze boot:

# Analyze boot time
systemd-analyze

# Detailed
systemd-analyze blame

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Summary

This guide covered CPU, memory, I/O optimization, kernel parameters, and system tweaks.

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Next Steps

• Arch Linux System Configuration - System setup
• Arch Linux Kernel Management - Kernel
• ArchWiki Performance: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Improving_performance

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This guide is based on the ArchWiki. For the most up-to-date information, always refer to the official ArchWiki.